BLC#2 ~ EP Weightloss Challenge

Thank goodness I just caught this post!!!

miss ronda is hosting a new Weightloss Challenge on her blog.  Today (Wednesday, April 4th) is the deadline to hop on over and post your goals.  To participate you give your start weight and how much you'd like to lose by May 31st.  Then, every Wednesday you post a comment on her blog outlining how much you've lost.  The winner will be the person that's lost the highest percentage of their original goal. 

Sounds like a lot of fun and I know from experience that the more challenges and FUN that I build into my weightloss journey the better off I am. 

Hope to see you there!

not eating enough

Yeah, you heard me. I'm not not eating enough. Wanna make something of it?

It suddenly hit me that perhaps the reason that I have zero energy is that I'm not getting enough to eat.  I suck at making sure I get mid morning & afternoon snacks, so the fact that I'm eating really good the rest of the time probably means that I'm not downing enough nutrients for the old bag of bones to function optimally.

See, that's the really great thing about EP and blogging in general...you can look back and see what you've been doing (right & wrong) and spot any changes that need to be made. As I was going about my daily business this past week it literally didn't occur to me that I wasn't really eating enough. I was just happy to be sticking with the program and eating only healthly food. No more 1/2 a bag of salt & vinegar chips while sitting on the couch at 3 pm for this girl.  No siree!  Then today, I felt a little lightheaded just before I was due to hop on the treadmill. I could be wrong (yeah right), but I'm guessing lightheadedness (sp?) and treadmills don't really mix. I think I'm on the right but feel free to tell me if I'm wrong. 

So anyway...although I missed my mid-morning snack, I did sneak a little something in between of lunch and supper.

And now for the 3 "M"igos (a.k.a. Today's Mind/Mouth/Muscle Update)
[Just for the record...I realize that amigos is spelled with an "A" and not an "M", but you'll bear with my warped humour anyway, won't you?]

Mind:
-------
Feel awesome mentally. Still know that I'm gonna see this all the way through.

Mouth:
--------
Breakfast - Large Flake Oatmeal, 1/2 cup 2% milk, water to drink.

Lunch - Lean Cuisine w/ diet/caffine free pepsi to drink.

Snack - Fat Free/Sugar Free yogurt. 16 oz water while working out.

Supper - Low Fat Chicken Burger (bbq'd), whole wheat bun, lettuce & mustand toppings, with assorted raw veggies as a side, and diet/caffine free pepsi to drink.

Yep. I know, I need to drink more water...I just hate the stuff.

Muscle:
----------
30 minutes Treadmill (interval workout - walk 4 min @ 3.5, jog 2 mins @5, walk 2, jog 2...you get the idea)
35 minutes Lower Body workout.
Jogging feels completely foreign to my body and I was quite breathless, but my goal is to eventually be able to go for long jogs/runs so I'd better get used to it.  Overall, I can feel my body (muscles) tightening up...in a good way. Not sure if that makes sense, but it's a good feeling...like I'm using my muscles and my body is happy about it.

That's all for now folks.  Hope you're havin' a great day!

one week down...eleven to go

Feels really good to have week one under my belt.  I rarely maintain motivation at the intensity that I'm still feeling it, so I'm a truly happy camper.

I have a ton of work still to do tonight, so I'm going to do a quick update tonight and post something more interesting tomorrow. 

Mind:
------
Pretty much said it all above

Mouth:
---------
Breakfast - Oatmeal w/ 1/2 cup 2% milk, water to drink.

Lunch - Left over Taco Salad (home-made low fat chili over salad) & diet caff. free pepsi.

Supper - 1 cup cooked ravioli (not the healthiest, but came in at 200 calories) with salad & fat free dressing, diet caff. free pepsi to drink.

Muscle:
---------
Treadmill - 30 minutes 3.8
Upper Body Workout 30 minutes

Muscles feel good after the weights.  Not sure that I'm working up enough of a sweat with the cardio, though, so tomorrow I'm going to try an interval program on the treadmill that combines jogging & running for two minutes with walking at a 3-6% incline.  Might be hilarious, but I'm gonna give it a try.  I'd like to be a runner when I grow up, too. 

That's all folks.  Keep on pushing your limits!

And the winner is...

ME!  Woo Hoo. 

Our little offline weightloss group meets every Sunday night for a weigh-in and discussion of how the week went.  Last week we decided that we wanted to have little prizes as we go along for added motivation.  The four of us brought a wrapped $10 gift.  Each week the person who has lost the most weight gets to pick a prize and take it home...BUT, it can't be unwrapped until you go back the following week and are still down in weight.  Very cool idea and really helps with continued motivation. 

Sooooo, today I was down the most and picked my prize.   It came home with me and IF I'm still down next week I'll be able to open it.  Cool huh?  We've also decided to have 20 celebrations.  What's that you ask?  Well, each time someone drops 20 lbs we're going to go out to eat (healthy restaraunts only).  We've talked a lot about how most of us seem to get stuck at around the 12-15 lbs range and immediately fall off the wagon.  Not going to happen this time!  Looking forward to being able to celebrate the girl's milestones with them. 

[Note: Unfortunately my scale at home varies from the scale we use for the group by a couple of pounds.  Hate when that happens!  I like my scale better.  ]  <hehe>

Ok, on to my update...

Mind:
------
Slept in again today.  Harumpf!  However, when I finally did wake up I came up with a plan for the day which was to make healthy home-made chili and make up for my missed workout from yesterday.  I'm happy to report that I managed to do both. 

Mouth:
--------
Breakfast - missed this..bad girl!

Lunch - Lean Cuisine (beef stir fry of some sort...pretty good and only 200 calories).  Bought a bunch of different ones when we went shopping on Sat. so I'd have something quick and easy on hand, diet, caffine free pepsi.

Supper - Taco Salad (salad topped with lean, home-made chili, d/c pepsi. So VERY yummy.  Can't wait to have it for lunch tomorrow. Made a huge crockpot full and am going to freeze it in individual servings so that when the rest of the family is eating something I shouldn't have...I can just pop it in and enjoy. 

Muscle:
----------
Treadmill 30 minutes (3.8)
Lower Body workout w/ Abs
It seems to be taking me longer than I would like to do the strength training portion of my workout, so I'm going to be conscious of the exact time tomorrow. 

Had a darn good week overall, if I do say so myself.  Lost a good amount of weight (it's always big drops in the beginning for me) and discovered that squats, lunges and push-ups aren't going to kill me.  I hate that I'm so far out of shape, but I'm happy that I'm finally doing something about it. 

See ya'll tomorrow. 

~L

Stocked Up On the Good Stuff

Spent the morning at a parenting conference at the local High School (very informative) today.  Was great to get out of the house and get in lots of adult conversation.  Sometimes hard to do when you're a stay-at-home/homeschooling mom. 

Quick Update...

MInd:
-------
Woke up before my alarm, which is a rarity (sp?), this morning.  Snuggled and chatted with The Dad before finally dragging m'butt out of bed.  Sill feeling good and motivated all the way around.  Again, not sure where this comes from but not knockin' it. 

Mouth:
--------
Breakfast - 1/2 cup large flake oatmeal, brown sugar Sugar Twin, 1/2 2% milk.

Lunch - 1/2 a Roast Beef sandwhich (lunch provided at the conference).  Honestly not sure what sort of spread was on this hence the reason that I limited myself to 1/2 a sandwhich.  Also had fat free/sugar free yogurt, an apple, and the usual un-pop (diet, caffine free pepsi).

Supper - grilled pickerel, two grilled baby new potatoes, grilled zuchinni, salad w/ fat free dressing, and un-pop.  Yummy all the way around.  I'm not a huge fish fan, but I'm really trying my best to find ways to like it and eat it more often.  Dessert was a Chapman's No Sugar Added Chocolate Icecream bar (90 calories, 2.5g fat).  Needed to satisfy a chocolate craving.

I know, I know...I really need to work in some snacks/mini-meals after breakfact and lunch, but I've always had a hard time with that.  Actually, not true.  I used to love to have a 3 pm sit down on the couch with a bag of salt & vinegar chips, but...I digress.  Now 3 pm is my exercise time and I figure it's time well spent, so I'm not going to worry about the snack I'm missing. 

Bottom line in the Mouth Department is that we went shopping and totally stocked up on lots of good stuff.  Did a bit of meal planning before writing out our shopping list and I hope to take a few moments tomorrow to do a more fomal map of what we'll be eating in the next two weeks.  Folks who know us know that take-out is a huge issue.  Not only is it not good for us, but it's freakin' expensive.  Nuf said!

Muscle:
----------
Ok, here's where I have to hang my head.    Really didn't do to much in the way of movement today.  Sure, we walked around the parenting expo and then I walked up and down the grocery store isles, but somehow I don't really think that counts. 

In all honesty, I am experiencing a wee bit of pain in the lower extremities.  (sounds dirty, doesn't it?)  All kidding aside, it was the freakin' squats that did me in on Thursday.  Just walking up and down the stairs, going from sitting to standing, etc. elicites (sp?) moaning...and I don't mean the good kind.  I'm sore folks, and I'm hoping that the extra three days off (not doing lower body again until Tuesday) will make all the difference.  Today was pretty much a day off, so tomorrow I'll be hitting the treadmill and not taking the day off as planned.  ---------------------------------------

Overall...feeling pretty good about my progress.  I have to seriously remember, though, that I tend to lose quickly in the beginning. Watching the scale is awesome for the first little while, but it's after...when the weight starts coming off more slowly that I have a hard time staying motivated and on track.  Having said that, I'm planning on coming up with some sort of nice reward after I hit 20 lbs lost.  It seems like in the last 10 years I've only ever made it to between 12 - 15 lbs before I fall off the wagon and start gaining it all back.  So, it's really important for me to see that I can get beyond 20 lbs.  Hopefully then my brain will understand that I can count on myself to honor my commitment to losing ALL the weight..for GOOD. 

Hope everyone is having an awesome week-end.  I've got my weigh-in tomorrow with a small group of friends who're all trying to lose weight too, so wish me luck. 

~L

And the motivation comes from where?

No clue...but it's there, so I ain't gonna knock it. 

I just feel incredibly focused on my goal and I'm able to visualize myself a few months from now...lookin' better in time for summer.  It's all good, baby.  All Good!

Today's Update looks like this...
(just cause I know you'll perish if you don't know the intimate details of my life.  NOT)

Mind:
-------
Woke up waaaaay late.  Lay there a good long while visualizing what it's going to be like when I lose...say 30 lbs.  Like I said, I'm feeling (for the first time) like I can actually DO THIS. 

Muscle:
----------
Treadmill - 30 minutes (speed 3.8)
Upper Body workout - 30 minutes (dang...still need to time this)
Additional 40 minute walk (moderate intensity) outside with a friend.

Upper body feels fine (was worried that one day wouldn't be enough rest in between).  Admittedly I did NOT do my push-ups this time.  I realised that I misread my book and thought I needed to do 3 different exercises for each muscle group, when really it's only 2.  So...ahem, guess why I dropped the push-ups folks?  'Cause they're the Devil's Work!  I may have mentioned this before.  You should really pay attention. 

Mouth:  (drinking a least 2 glasses of water while working out)
--------
Breakfast - I am NOT a meal skipper, but since I slept in I didn't see the point of having my oatmeal half and hour before lunch. 

Lunch:
---------
Campbell's Healthy Request Tomato Garden Vegetable soup, diet & caffine free pepsi.

Supper:
----------
Swiss Chalet (take-out...gasp!) 1/4 chicken white meat w/ skin removed, garden salad as my side, diet & caffine free pepsi.  Used my own fat free dressing and gave the bun/roll away. 

So, there you have it.  I moved a LOT today.  And, while I had take-out I didn't have McDonald's like I normally would have.  Actually, I craved Swiss Chalet rather than McD's which is odd as heck when I stop and think about it.  See....again, there's that mysterious motivation.  Don't know where it comes from or where it goes when it's not here, but I'm ridin' the wave as long as possible. 

That's all folks.  I'm off to check out some more blogs before I hit the hay.  Early morning tomorrow and not too sure how my brain is going to feel about exercising on a Saturday. 

Later,
L

I Don't Know Squat!

I posted yesterday about my lack of warm and fuzzy feelings for Push-Ups (a.k.a. the devil's work -- TanyaD cwacks me up with her take on how the devil came up with the idea of push-ups...see my comments). 

Well, let me tell you Squats are worse (yes, no...well actually they both suck).  In all honesty, I'm not even able to do them in proper form.  I'm sure I'm not going low enough.  Having said that, I nearly couldn't make it up the stairs after working out today.   How on earth did I let myself go to this point.  No upper body strength.  No lower body strenght.  So basically I'm just one big marshmellow folks.  Awe inspiring, isn't it?

Ah well...despite my moaning and bellyaching (is that one work or two?) here's where I'm at for the day...

Mind:
-------
Woke up early and actually felt awake (wonder of wonders). Still had trouble getting out of bed, but it was nice to kind of lay there thinking about my goals and what I had planned for the day.  Did a bit of visualizing about how I'll look and feel when I reach my goal. 

Muscle:
----------
Treadmill - 30 minutes (speed 3.8)
Lower Body workout w/ abs - 30-40 minutes

Upper body still feeling a bit sore from yesterday's efforts, but I almost like the feeling.  It's not actual pain, rather...a knowing that you've worked your muscles hard.  Good feeling!

Mouth:
--------
Breakfast - 1/2 cup (before cooking) large flake oats, brown sugar Sugar Twin, 1/2 cup 2% milk, water.

Lunch - 1 1/2 whole wheat english muffins, 1/2 can tuna, diced green onion, tsp light mayo, diet & caffine free pepsi.

Supper - pork chop (grilled on bbq), steamed brussel sprouts, steamed baby carrots, tsp light becel margarine, sprinkle of Mrs. Dash seasoning, water to drink.

So, overall I'm feeling pretty good about my progress.  I plan on doing 30 minutes of cardio (treadmill probably) every day. I may take Sunday's off, but we'll see.  AND, Mon. to Sat. I'll be rotating upper and lower body workouts.  Some nights I may even get in an extra walk with my girlfriend. 

That's all for now folks!

~L

I did it. Finally got on the treadmill!

I'm sorta, kinda following Body for Life for Women, so I have this 12 week plan printed out.  Actually, back up a bit.  I had printed out my plan and then let it sit for two and a half weeks collecting dust. 

So here's me, printing it out all over again...filling in the dates and being hit up-side the head with the notion that it'll now be June 18th by the time I hit the end of week twelve.  Summer is closer than you think folks! 

I am sooooo NOT going to spend another summer hating the way that I look in shorts and a t-shirt let alone a swimsuit.  Time for me to get my butt in gear so that I'm not thinking up excuses not to go to the beach with my kids. 

Today's Update:
==================
Treadmill - 30 minutes
Upper Body workout  - 30-40 minutes (forgot to time it )

Let me tell you, my arms feel like rubber.  This routine outlines 3 exercises for each major muscle group, with three sets each. During the first group that I worked I had to do push-ups.  Is it just me or are push-ups the devils work?  I can't do them to save my life.  Well...I did try (the knee ones) and managed to do 12 my first set, 6 my second, and 6 my third.  My arms were pretty much rubber after that point and I still had to finish.  Yikes!

In the end, though, I finished my workout and I'm also proud to say that my eating was right on track.  A good day!

Later Folks,

~L

Officially Obese

Ah...what fun to learn that I'm officially obese!  A great way to start the day, wouldn't you say? 

Last night, before I went to bed, I set my new EP blog as my "homepage".  Since I'm on the computer a LOT, I figure this is a pretty smart move on my part.  Now everytime I start my computer, or even open an new explorer window it's going to take me directly to this blog and act as a kick in the pants to get motivated and STAY THERE. 

So, ahem.....drumroll please.  Here is the results of my early moring "Ideal Weight Calculation":

BMI = 30.3 (officially obese
Ideal Body Weight = 136 lbs - 150 lbs
Lean Body Weight = 130 lbs

Yep, you've probably guessed it from my blog title, but I really want to be a "Lean Mom".  Therefore, while I'll be thrilled to hit 150 lbs...my ultimate goal is 130 lbs.  Probably not too realistic on my part considering I was 140 lbs at University, but then again I ate like crap back then and didn't know the meaning of the word exercise.  So, I guess that means that it is possible. 

Okey dokey, I'm off to hit the books with my munchkins (we homeschool) and then I need to handle the edits for my online clients.  More on both of those later. 

~L

Trying for Some Motivation

I'm really hoping that by starting this blog I'll gain some much needed motivation.  Posting every day should help me keep my weightloss goal in mind at all times and help me to stay on track.  Well...that's the plan anyway.

I'm really at the beginning of my journey, here.  Growing up I never gave a second thought to what I put in my body and didn't have to.  I was skinny adn had the nickname to prove it.  It wasn't until hit my mid 20's that I started to put on weight and even then my tall frame hid most of it quite well thank you very much.  Take-out and a sedentary lifestyle work wonders, though, don't they?  And then, having two munchkins and becoming a stay-at-home mom doesn't help either. 

So, here I am 60 pounds overweight and struggling.  I'm not stupid...I mean it's pretty obvious that the key to weightloss is eating less and moving more.  It's not rocket science after all.  But, do you think I can convince my ever lovin' brain to just get up a little earlier so that I can hit the treadmill before the kids get up?  Nooooo.  Of course not.  That's just plain asking too much of the feeble brain cells. 

Anyhoo...  Here I go folks!  This is the beginning of my journey and I am determined to make myself proud.  I want my husband and kids to be proud of how I look.  I want more energy.  I want to get in shape and <gasp> dare I say...I even want to become a personal trainer someday.  How cool would that be?!? 

Ok, this is my signing off.  Drop by and say howdy if'n you have time. 

~L